The plane was
travelling between Barcelona and Dusseldorf when it came down in the French
Alps, according to the AFP News Agency.

Mr Hollande said
the site of the crash was "a very difficult area to access", and said
that there were not expected to be any survivors.

While the plane
was believed to have a capacity of 174, Le Monde and local newspapers cited
aviation officials as saying that 142 passengers and six crew were on board at
the time.

French officials
said that flight number 4U 9525 vanished from radar screens about 80 minutes
after take-off, and that suspected items of debris had been found near the
small town of Barcelonnette in the Alpes-de-Hautes-Provences.

Mr Hollande said
there were likely to be a number of German nationals on board the flight, and
that he would be speaking shortly with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

"This is a
tragedy on our soil," Mr Hollande said.

The French Prime
Minister, Manuel Valls, said that details of the reported crash remained
unclear and that interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve was heading to the region.

In a statement
issued on Twitter, Germanwings said it was still working to confirm the
incident through its "own information".

It said it had
"recently become aware of media reports speculating on an incident".

The airline
requested the public "monitor our website" and said it would provide
information as soon as it was available, though the website appeared to be down
in the immediate aftermath of the first reports.

Airbus told the
Associated Press it was aware of reports of the crash but was unable to confirm
any details.